Run one micro-VCoL on something that happened today
Take one ordinary event from your day and move it through goal, information, application and reflection in a few minutes of attention.
Why it works
Lectica calls running the virtuous cycle in real time “micro-VCoLing,” because the cycle is a micro-practice that happens as you go. Its web page says VCoLing engages the whole learner, emotionally, physically and intellectually, and makes new knowledge integrated and “sticky.” Those integration claims are the developers’ account and were not tested in the sources read.
How to do it
- Pick one thing from today that went differently than you expected.
- Write the goal you had, or the one you wish you had had, in one sentence.
- Look up or ask one piece of information you lacked, and write it down.
- Name one place you could use it tomorrow and try it once.
- Finish by writing what you would do differently and the goal that sets for the next pass.
Evidence
Micro-VCoLing is Lectica’s name for running the loop in real time. Its web page describes the practice and its intended effects; the 2011 paper describes the loop it is built on. Both are the developers’ own descriptions. (anecdotal)
This is a reflective exercise built from the developers’ model. The sources report no outcome data for micro-VCoLing.
Sources
- Lectica, Inc. Virtuous cycles of learning (VCoL) & the +7 skills. Web page, undated, read 2026-10-14.
- Dawson, T. L., & Stein, Z. (2011). Virtuous cycles of learning: Redesigning testing during the digital revolution. Lectica, Inc. Originally presented at the International School on Mind, Brain, and Education, Erice, Italy.
Common mistake
Running the four steps as a checklist and skipping reflection, which is where, on Lectica’s account, the next goal gets set.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for The Lectical Scale and the Virtuous Cycle of Learning
- Start each learning cycle with a goal you can name
Write the one thing you are trying to learn before you seek information, so the rest of the cycle has a target to measure against.
- Pick a next step that is a stretch you can reach
Choose a next learning goal that is a stretch you can reach, not one beyond reach. Lectica asks for goals that are “just right” but does not define that phrase; “stretch” is this page’s reading of it.
- Seek the information that could change your mind
Before settling on a view, look for the evidence most likely to contradict it, and weigh it fairly.
- Rehearse new knowledge in a low-stakes trial
Try a new idea first in a hypothetical or low-stakes version, so a misstep costs little and the result becomes information.
- Notice your defensiveness before you act on feedback
When feedback stings, name the defensive reaction first, then sort out what the feedback actually says.
- Pick one thinking bias to catch this week
Choose one thinking bias, such as attribution bias, and watch for it in your own reasoning for a week before choosing another.
- Ask how a developmental level was scored before you act on it
Before you act on a developmental score, ask what descriptions it was matched against and how consistently scorers agree on it.
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- Desirable Difficulties: When Harder Means Better Learning
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- Torbert’s Seven Action Logics of Leadership
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- Ego Development Theory: What It Is and How It Is Measured
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- Vertical Development Practices: How Adults Grow, Not Just Add Skills
Heat, colliding perspectives, and sense-making — and what the research can and cannot promise
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